MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

5/23 Lineup tweaks & Castro

Nobody likes to admit that they’re superstitious but the Cubs are 6-0 when Starlin Castro bats in the No. 2 spot. Lou Piniella has inserted Castro high in the order against left-handers but hinted Sunday he may keep the rookie there against right-handers, too. With Aramis Ramirez out because of a bruised thumb, Piniella said he could move Kosuke Fukudome to the No. 5 spot and have Castro bat second. Fukudome has hit second against right-handers.

The Dodgers will start lefty Clayton Kershaw on Tuesday, so Castro will bat second. But Piniella may keep him there Wednesday and Thursday against right-handers Chad Billingsley and John Ely.

– Carrie Muskat

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4 Comments

He may, he may not, he may, he may not…he’s Lou, the line-up will be in a constant state of flux and at this point in the season, Lou’s tenure and Hendry’s roster… the line-up doesn’t even matter anymore. Victories seem to be coming by sheer luck recently as opposed to the brlliant strategy of Pinella and Hendry.

I got to go to Dallas this weekend and see the Cubs on both Saturday and Suday. Great games and a lot of fun! I loved seeing Castro play and think this is by far the best move of the season. Don’t know what’s gotten into Soriano but it was great to see him jack 2 this weekend. Hate the bullpen except for Marshall and most of the time Marmol. I told the guy next to me yesterday when Grabow came in that if they were going to score some runs, now was the time. What happened? One run. When Marmol came in, I told the same guy Marmol would shut them down but watch out for the walks. What happened? Walk. Oh yeah, what in the world are we doing bringing Howry back with a 10. something ERA? You know the bullpen is bad when we bring someone like this in.

I think the biggest line up tweek we need is to have DLee on the bench. Am I the only one who sees he is pulling every pitch he sees? Everytime he hits it, it goes directly to the short stop. He needs to have a total revamp of his hitting stance. He is pulling everything from both sides of the plate. Even if he does get a hit it still goes to left field. Granted Rami is struggling bad and its not normal for him, but Lee has been hindering our success for the last 3 years. He needs traded ASAP and we need to put Hauf in at first.

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